Raining Tomorrow
by Koorinoen
Summary: One shot. A sequeal of Ernest Hemingway's short story Hills Like Elephant. It's been two years since the incident in Spain, but our protegnists still haven't walk out of it's shadow. Critique and comments welcome.


            The new restaurant stood on the cliff. Two sides of it, which were big bay windows, faced the sea. The waves crashed rhythmically into the stones at the base of the cliff. It was a bright day and just as the sun was setting, some clouds began to cover the sun. Most of the clouds were burning red, with occasionally a touch of grey. However, on the western edge of the sky, there was tiny dark cloud, strangely out of place in the brightly lit sky.

            The young couple walked into the restaurant. The red mark around their noses showed that they had had a full day on the beach. The waiter led them to their reserved table and left them with the menu.

            "I think I'll have beer." The man said.

            "Beer? This is a French restaurant." The she protested.

            "So?"

            "So? We should have wine."

            "Who said that we must have wine in a French restaurant?"

            "Nobody. It's just convention."

            "Well, I don't go with the convention."

            "But don't have beer. We didn't go this far to pay for beer. We can have it at home."

            "All right, all right. Let's not have beer then. Oh, they have Anis del Toro. Do you want that?"

            "No."

            "No? I thought you liked it."

            "Did I? Well I don't anymore."

            "But why not? You don't just not like something."

            "It reminds me of things, ok?"

            "Things? You mean that."

            "OK, that! It's our anniversary. Let's just have a good time and not forget that, ok?"

"Sounds good to me. So what do you want?"

            "Wine." 

            "Fine then, wine."

            "But you don't really like it."

            "It's fine with me as long as you like it."

            "But I want you to be happy with it too."

            "I am happy with it as long as you are, ok? We will have wine." He looked at the menu again. "Would you like Escargot as an appetizer?"

            "What as an appetizer?"

            "Escargot. It means snails."

            "Then say snails."

            "It says Escargot on the menu."

            "It doesn't make any difference. I still don't understand."

            "OK, do you want snails as an appetizer?"

            "Sure, why not?"

            "OK, then that's settled. You should try their steak."

            "No. I want the trout."

            "But you had the trout last time."

            "I like the trout."

            "You should try something new. Then maybe you'll find something else you like."

            "I never liked steak. So I'll stay with the trout."

            "Since when have you been so disagreeable?"

            "I am not being disagreeable. I am just voicing my opinion. Also, this is our first anniversary. I don't want to try anything new today, so I don't have any special food associated with anniversaries."

            "So it all comes back to that, doesn't it? Can't you just forget about it?"

            "No I can't."

            They both fell silence for a while. The woman played with the fork on the table while the man looked out at the setting sun. Finally, he spoke again.

            "Jig, do you think that we would get along better if we didn't do it?"

            "I doubt it."

            "You'd have something else to focus on."

            "So would you."

            "Do you want that?"

            "I don't know. Let's just have our dinner, shall we? I'll stay with the trout, you can have the steak, and I'll try a bit of yours. How's that?"

            "Sounds good." He waved the waiter over and ordered the food. When the waiter was gone, she pointed at the sky.

            "Do you see the dark cloud there?"

            "Yes?"

            "Do you think it's going to rain tomorrow?"

            "It might. What do you think?"

            "I think it'll rain."


End file.
